‘Men work together,’ I told him from the heart,

‘Whether they work together or apart.’

This line of a poem came to my mind as I sat at the steps in the drizzle that threatened to turn into a storm very soon, waiting anxiously, minute by minute, for a man and a van that I did not know would show up or not.

In the previous two days I had contacted one man after another, one in particular who had helped me before, asked me to send the details which I did, a very detailed information indeed, and an hour past, then another……by noon when I still heard no reply, I sent out another message which was ignored as well, feeling all exposed and apprehensive by giving out all the private information and hearing no reply, I decided to break the suspense and call the guy, I was answered in a tongue which I could not determine, and at hearing my voice and English, he grumbled something and hung up with rude abruptness.

It was an unpleasant interaction enough. Though I could not say what the matter was. The man( I could not tell if it’s the same man) seemed gentle enough last time I used their service.

I went on and contacted several others but only fruitlessly: New York is all of a sudden full of business and no one is available.

In my distraction I knocked on my neighbor’s door who has, indeed, been living in this Latino neighborhood for the past thirty years, he referred me to the car service center at the corner.

“No problem. No problem. Nada. Nada. They can get you a van and a man.”

Off I ran to the center and stated my case. There is a something very similar to brotherhood in the air of the small office. And I was told a van and a man would come to me at the appointed hour. Then he held out his fist in the air, and I saw that I was offered a fist bump which I readily answered with my own fist.

I let out a breath as I walked out of their office. Though still I was not settled; Still the uncertainty in me remained: I have never used car service in this country, let alone the car service of this particular Latino neighborhood.

As I walked on the busy street looking for an ATM to prepare against that they might only accept cash. I sent out a message to announce my arrival of the following day.

I was a little uneasy about the disturbance in the early morning, though I thought the notice ( perhaps not the early hour) necessary and a form of politeness.

I did not get a reply, and meanwhile, my heart misgave me.

Adventure, it’s said in the dictionary, is based on Latin adventurus ‘about to happen’, from advenire ‘arrive’.

And both in English and Chinese, the word has a two-sided sense of “hazard, risk” and “daring and exciting”, though perhaps the English leans more on the “daring and exciting activity calling for enterprise and enthusiasm” while the Chinese considers it more a reckless act regardless of danger.

The Chinese, is it fair for me to say (and sorry I am to say it), is not an adventurous race. You can tell it from the sayings: “枪打出头鸟 qiāng dǎchū tóu niǎo“ literally, “Gun shoots the poked-head-out bird” or “the bird out of the group will be shot” or “the nail that sticks out gets hammered down”.

So in China it’s not infrequent you would be advised by many of the good-willed people that sometimes could be so irritating “to do as others do”.

For, indeed, in Chinese the word for adventure ‘冒险 màoxiǎn’ has a danger(险xiǎn) in it.

冒 in 冒险 means “disregard bad environment or danger……, withstand” though the origin of the character indicates nothing whatsoever of this sense: it’s merely an image of a hat.

The meaning of “risky and reckless” derived from this character perhaps comes from a Xiongnu leader’s name 冒顿 Modun, the Xiongnu sees their leader as “brave and daring”, and the Chinese conveniently (it’s said they fought numerous battles) translated it into “reckless and risky”.

So it’s no wonder 冒险 normally meets with disapproval among the Chinese.

险 in 冒险, as the character generally means in its modern sense, means ‘danger, risk, hazard’. Though the character in its very beginning meant “a narrow pass, an obstruction, an impediment” as you will see in its ancient version:

The Chinese has his reason to think twice when it comes to 冒险: as my apprehension grew, I feared and doubted my doings, and little by little, I led myself to a dark place filled with mistrust generated by fear and doubt.

Then, being, very proudly, a human, standing on his two legs and with a head to think and hands to do and mouth to speak and talk, you, human, stand up and turn the table around.

Apprehension, to apprehend, is also to lay hold of, to grasp and to learn.

I sit on, looking at the street with great shady trees and pink and blue and pale yellow three-storied buildings with bow windows that I have grown familiar with in the past few months, looking at the park across the street I daily visited. Goodbye, goodbye, it’s a goodbye day for me, and I am going……I am leaving……Just when I almost forget what I am waiting for. A message comes in to reassure me the acknowledgement of my arrival; a van slows itself down at my stairs and the man in it gives me an inquisitive look, and I nod to answer: Yes. It’s me! It’s me!

It’s me who is about to board an adventure.